Wakefern Posts $14.7B in Retail Sales
Wakefern Food Corp. achieved a record $14.7 billion in retail sales for the fiscal year ending Sept. 27, 2014, a 4 percent rise from the year-ago period.
Chairman and CEO Joseph S. Colalillo and President and COO Joe Sheridan reported the news at the retailer-owned cooperative's annual shareholder meeting, held in East Brunswick, N.J., on Oct. 30.
Additionally, six new ShopRite stores, five new Price Rite stores and six The Fresh Grocer stores opened during the same period, and the ShopRite from Home ordering service expanded to 214 locations.
Wakefern also announced that four members of its board of directors –- Rocco Cingari, of Grade A Market Inc.; Bernard Kenny, of Delaware Supermarkets Inc.; Joel Perlmutter, of Perlmart Inc.; and James Sumas, of Village Super Market Inc. –- have retired, and four new members –- Jordan Coe, of Waverly Markets LLC; Harry Garafalo, of Milford Markets LLC; Nicholas Sumas, of Village Super Market Inc.; and David Zallie, of Somerset Stores LLC -- were added, effective immediately.
The retired members "will remain active in their own companies and at the Wakefern committees on which they serve," said Colalillo, who noted, "The strength of our cooperative lies in the strength of our family businesses and their enduring commitment to their customers, which is handed down from generation to generation."
"Year after year, Wakefern continues to grow and adapt to meet the needs of an ever-changing industry and an increasingly demanding customer," added Sheridan. "After more than 65 years in this business, we rely on the lessons from past successes while always looking to the future for new and better ways to help our members succeed."
Additional Board Appointments
Also at the meeting, Wakefern shareholders re-elected to the board Colalillo as chairman and CEO; Sheridan as president and COO; Larri Wolfson and Irv Glass as vice chairmen; Lawrence Inserra Jr. as treasurer; Richard Saker, Jeffrey Brown and Kenneth Capano as assistant treasurers; Dominick J. Romano as secretary; and Ned Gladstein and Steven Ravitz as assistant secretaries; in addition to Robert Clare, Lawrence Collins, Jon Greenfield, Charles Infusino, Vincent Lo Curcio III, Leonard Sitar, Richard Tully and Richard McMenamin as members.
Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern, the largest retailer-owned cooperative in the United States, consists of 49 members who individually own and operate more than 250 supermarkets.